Volvo 240 Odometer
Repair
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This Page is in TWO Sections
Section 1: 1981-85 240's
Section 2: 1986-93 240's (plus new replacement gears now available here)
Faulty odometers in 240's are pretty darn common. Luckily, for most of us, there are now easy fixes for little nuisances like this. And there are even a few good webpages covering such repairs.
So... why did I begin writing this page then? A couple reasons... When I recently experienced a problem with my '84 240 Turbo odometer, I found it to be COMPLETELY DIFFERENT (no new part needed) from any repair covered by any other webpage.
Then, I started getting emails from people who found my repair page after they bought and tried to install new gears from on-line sellers. A LOT of people were getting confused by the two very different installation methods between cable-driven and electronic speedometers and they were frustrated by less than accurate advice they were getting from people who sold gears for lots of cars besides Volvos. It became apparent the instructions out there were NOT nearly articulate or specific enough for Volvo 240 owners, unless you're already familiar with the insides of a Volvo speedometer (not many people are).
So I have worked very hard to put together some very detailed instructions on BOTH types of installations for 240's.
If you find any errors here or know a better way than I have illustrated below, please email me.
Thank you, Dave
| EMAIL ME |
| Here are some other references I have found. iPd: www.ipdusa.com. iPd
offers a
replacement plastic odometer gear that commonly breaks in the 1986 to
1993 electronic 240 speedometer/odometer. They also offer
an
instructional DVD
for the repair. Unfortunately, they do not offer anything for
the 1985 and older cable-driven speedo.
Volvo 240 Odometer Repair: http://www.hyperocity.com/volvo240/volvoodometer.htm. A pretty good site with instructions for '86-'93 electronic odometer repairs. They also offer resources for purchasing new gears for '81-'85 240 mechanical (cable-driven) speedos. Dave's Shannon's Odometer Repair Page: http://www.homestead.com/volvo2/Odometer.html. Dave's instructional page on repairing a cracked plastic gear in '81-'85 240 cable-driven odometers has been a great resource for many years. When the cable-driven odometer in my '84 240 Turbo began acting up, I knew it was time for some minor surgery. The below info will detail what I found. Some of it is a repeat of Dave Shannon's page, however, the problem I found in my odometer was very different (no new part needed). And I have since discovered this problem is somewhat common in faulty '81-'85 240 odometers. I decided to illustrate the repair here for those of you who want to fix your odometers. Please keep in mind.... I know how intimidating this kind of stuff seems. It is NOT that hard. |
Section 1: Odometer Repair, 1981-1985 240 (NOT for '86 and later units)
For this page, I will not go into how to remove the 240 instrument cluster from the dash. For detailed instructions on this, please refer to my 240 white face gauge installation instructions at http://www.davebarton.com/pdf/240WhiteFaceInstall81-93.pdf. To avoid repeating myself too many times, there will be a few more times I refer you to these instructions below.
Unfortunately, I do not offer new replacement gears for this odometer. If I can find a supplier, I will.
 Here's the back of your typical
'81-'85 240 instrument cluster. Locate and remove the 7 Phillips head screws around the outer edge (noted by the white arrows). Also remove the two slotted screws on the back of speedometer (noted by two red arrows). CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE. |
 Lift
out the
circuit
board. Here's what you now have before you. The speedometer remains in the box. Remove it and have a look if you've never seen it up close before. Take a couple pics and impress your friends.  If your cluster has
a tach, you'll see this little item. Don't lose it. It often falls out if you turn the box over. How about you just don't tip it over? |
| On the 1981-85 240, the speedo needle
needs to be
removed. This is a delicate operation. You should again refer to my 240 white face installation instructions for this and use the pry techniques I suggest there. This part of the procedure for an 1981-85 240 is very different from a 1986-93 240. So if you have a newer 240, stop what you're doing, take a few breaths, and click HERE. If you're still here... then let's continue. If you break a speedo needle, I have replacements in my Used Parts Page here. It's rare to break one, but it does happen once in a while. However, if you follow my instructions carefully, you probably will not break anything. Once the needle is off, remove the metal speedometer faceplate using a small flat screwdriver to remove the 2 tiny screws. Be careful if they're tight. They are soft metal and are easy to gouge. Get a screwdriver that fits these small slots well.  < Here's the naked
speedometer after removing the faceplate. See those three slotted screws? If you enlarge the pic you can. Remove them. They hold the two halves of the speedo together. Once the screws are removed, be gentle when pulling in apart. The parts inside are delicate, but it won't explode... trust me. You'll see one piece that can fall out at this point, but not to worry, just put it back like the picture.  Here's the back half
of the speedo. The thing with the arrow is what I was talking about. Just be sure to put it back before you reassemble. |
 Here's
the
front
half of the speedo, viewed from the back. See these two gears (one is blue and one is black)? To avoid confusion, I'll call these them "outside gears" since they're on the outside of the odometer assembly. The blue plastic gear is often the culprit for a failed odometer in a cable-driven speedo, but not always as I discovered. You'll notice in this photo the odometer reset button is missing from the bottom of the speedo. I removed it so it wouldn't get in my way. It pops off quite easily. They also tend to break after years of getting pushed and pushed. If you need one, I have replacements in my Used Parts Page here. |
 Here's a closer look at the blue
gear. Your gear may be a different color... I haven't seen that
many yet. If anyone knows the colors, please email me.FYI, this is the same gear referenced in Dave's Shannon's page (the gear he found was white instead of blue, so it might have had a different number of teeth). This gear (as found by Dave Shannon) has a tendancy to crack. It might also lose teeth after years of use. There is a long metal shaft going through this and these outside gears. In order for the odometer to function correctly, these gears need to grip the shaft... so slipping allowed. Dave Shannon's gear was cracked and that was causing it to slip in the slaft. I found nothing obviously wrong with either of these outside gears. No cracks and no missing teeth. And they appeared to be gripping the shaft from what I could see. This was a mystery, since the odometer clearly was not working. So I gave up. It's not my fault Volvo owners give up so easily. |
 NO!
Volvo owners are NOT quitters! I
found a way to test the odometer to see where my problem was. As I mentioned, that blue gear could be cracked, missing teeth or just plain slipping on the shaft, although I could find no problem at this point. I needed to see for certain if that gear was gripping or slipping on the shaft. To test this, pick up the assembly and grip the wide black inside gear (like the photo) and hold it so it can't turn. Now see if you can turn the two outside gears on the end of the shaft. Don't force them.... be gentle. You should NOT be able to turn the two outside gears without the wide black inside gear turning also. If you can spin them without the inside gear turning, you know something is slipping somewhere. It's important to find out exactly what is slipping before you pull anything apart. If you find one of the plastic outside gears is slipping, your best solution is to replace it. If these gears seem tight on the shaft, or if you're still not sure what's wrong, keep reading.... |
 See this brass collar? It's
pressed onto the shaft (opposite end from the outside gears).
This
shaft goes through the odometer number wheels and through
the two outside gears on the other side. When you try to spin the
outside gears (while holding the wide black inside gear steady), have a look at
this collar to see
if the shaft is spinning
along with them. If the shaft is NOT spinning, then one or both outside gears are loose. As mentioned in Dave's Shannon's Page, he found a cracked plastic outside gear. Replacement gears weren't available then, so his repair method was to expoxy or JB Weld the gear back together and to use some 220 grit sandpaper to roughen the shaft for a better grip. This gear may now be available from the 240 Odometer Repair page listed above or specifically this link: http://www.odometergears.com/cable.html. If the shaft IS spinning and it still appears the outside gears are gripping the shaft, then something else is slipping. I will cover this a little further below, so don't be a cheater and skip ahead. |
 REMOVING THE OUTSIDE GEARS: If you
need to remove the outside gears, gently
pry
them with a small flat screwdriver (see photo). I don't know yet
if it matters, but for now pay close
attention to which
direction they face, so you can put them back on the same
way.  For those
of you who don't read directions very well, here's a
close up of these
gears. NOTE: The tops of these gears were facing away from the
speedo
body. Maybe that will help those of you who weren't paying
attention to the positions of your outside gears (assuming it really
matters). The blue gear in this photo is a 14 tooth unit and may be typical of a 1984 era 240's. I have seen this exact same gear in a 1981 also. The following location appears to sell these gears in a variety of tooth counts: http://www.odometergears.com/cable.html. You will need to get the same tooth count to match what you have. If you found that one or both of your outside gears were spinning on the shaft, try roughing up the shaft with some sandpaper. It's also possible to use a small punch or screwdriver to tap small dents around the gear center hole. This might help close up the hole slightly. Be careful, since beating on your gear may destroy it. With it being so old, it might be brittle. You will have to decide on the risk. Remember? You're a decisive 240 owner. |
 HERE'S WHAT I
FOUND
THAT WAS DIFFERENT WITH MY ODOMETER FAILURE:When I tested my outside gears to see if they were gripping or spinning on the shaft, I found they were gripping quite well, but they were spinning the shaft when I turned them while holding the wide black inside gear steady. As it turned out, my outside gears were just fine. What I discovered was that the GRAY METAL GEAR you see in this photo was slipping on the shaft. It's an inside gear. It's supposed to GRIP the shaft. Removing this metal gear is tricky. See the shaft going through the gear? Remember how it goes through all the odometer number wheels too? If you remove this shaft, the odometer will explode and a lot of little parts will fall out and bounce everywhere. Not good. |
 I
found a way. The
shaft
needs to
be pulled out just enough to release this metal gear. The last
thing I
wanted to see was all those little number wheels falling out, or even
moving in the slightes amount. So I
applied a piece of packing tape
across the wheels (see photo) to keep them
snugly together. No moving = much, much better. < Then I used a felt
marker and marked both the gray metal gear and the white plastic one
next to
it. I wanted the gray metal gear to go back in the exact same
position, in case it made a difference. |
 First,
go back up a few steps and remove the outside gears.To slide the shaft out, use a small screwdriver to pry under this brass collar. The collar and shaft are pressed together. The shaft should begin coming out along with the collar. DO NOT pry the shaft out too far. Pry the shaft out just enough so the gray gear is free. Then carefully lift the gray gear out. Try not to disturb the odometer number wheels. |
 <
Here's
the
metal gear. It's made of some sort of cheap pot-metal. If
you look
closely,
the hole in the center has some very faint splines. These wore
down on my gear, so it was slipping. My solution to tighten up this gear on the shaft was to use a pointed tool (a punch or small screwdriver works) and give the area around the hole a few taps to slightly deform the metal and tighten the grip on the shaft. Three taps on mine worked wonderfully. The gear went back on and was nice and tight. |
 After you
re-insert
the gray metal gear, push the shaft back through and test the odometer
function again before installing the outside gears. Pay attention to the
alignment of the top odometer numbers. The first time I
re-installed the gray metal gear, I found the far right number wheel
was no longer
aligned (see
photo). This means I allowed that number wheel to
slip
or the gray metal gear was installed slightly off the mark. I pulled it back out and got it right the second time. Now I have a perfect odometer again. Total time, including pulling the cluster out of the car and re-installing, was around an hour. Why don't you fix yours now? |
Section 2: Odometer Repair, 1986-1993 240
(NOT for '85 and older units)
For this page, I will not go into how to remove the 240 instrument cluster from the dash. For detailed instructions on this, please refer to my 240 cluster white face installation instructions at http://www.davebarton.com/pdf/240WhiteFaceInstall81-93.pdf. To avoid repeating myself too many times, there will be a few more times I refer you to these instructions.
For your convenience, I now offer a new replacement gear for this odometer. Ordering info will appear here shortly.
For this page, I will not go into how to remove the 240 instrument cluster from the dash. For detailed instructions on this, please refer to my 240 cluster white face installation instructions at http://www.davebarton.com/pdf/240WhiteFaceInstall81-93.pdf. To avoid repeating myself too many times, there will be a few more times I refer you to these instructions.
For your convenience, I now offer a new replacement gear for this odometer. Ordering info will appear here shortly.
< Here's the speedo after
separating it from everything else. Exciting, huh?
REMOVING THE
FACEPLATE: If you have
decided to remove the faceplate first, this step will tell you what to
do.
